Eli Cox (UK Athletics Photo)
Eli Cox seemed to play well in his first University of Kentucky start when the Wildcats beat ULM 45-10 to open the season. However, the right guard from West Jessamine improved in last week’s 35-28 victory over Missouri.
“Eli did some good things. He played better in this game. More consistent, played better. Our whole center and right side really played well,” coach Mark Stoops said after the Missouri win.
Cox is the kind of recruiting steal that first made Rich Brooks successful at UK and now is doing the same for Stoops. The current UK staff is recruiting at a higher level than Kentucky ever has but it still needs a local three-star recruit like Cox to play and develop.
Cox’s dream was to play at UK. He patiently worked and waited two years for a chance to play regularly but like Stoops and his staff have done with so many players, he developed nicely during that time.
“It’s very gratifying because he is what we thought he would be a program guy. A guy to come in and develop, and give you everything he has, and play hard and play physical, and he’s doing that,” Stoops said.
“Again, I can’t underestimate, I greatly appreciate our team and how hard they play. Again, we made plenty of mistakes (against Missouri) on all sides, but man we played hard. And I appreciate that because we challenged them all week to be physical and to play with an excitement, with an attitude.”
Cox does that because he bleeds blue. His whole family does. He’s proud to be part of the Big Blue Wall. For him, it’s personal.
The offensive line played so well against Missouri that UK ran the ball 52 times — not exactly what was expected when new offensive coordinator Liam Coen was hired. Stoops joked Coen may never have been in a game where his team ran 52 times.
“He is a quarterback by nature so I doubt it. But again the only time we were in run overdrive was the end of the first half and you would be stupid not to at that point. We ran it 12 plays in a row because we could,” Stoops said.
And nobody was probably loving that more than Eli Cox.
